Jeff Miller, from the Center for Biological Diversity, is the author of the petition requesting the Clear Lake hitch, a native fish, receive protection under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.

During the meeting, he went into detail on the process of adding the hitch to the listing, and was open to questions raised by the dozen or so people in attendance after that.

While the majority of attendees did not oppose efforts to save the hitch population, they were concerned how it might affect other things such as bass fishing and agriculture in the area.

Upon initial filing of a petition, there is a 90-day review period. During this time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Fish and Game Commission study the petition, Miller said. However, he pointed out that the review time may exceed 90 days.

The request was filed on Sept. 25 and is currently in this stage.

If the petition is accepted, a one-year status review will then take place. The state and federal agencies will notify and gather information from residents, tribes and county agencies that may be affected by the endangered status or are knowledgeable on the current hitch population. Miller said the status review may also surpass its allotted 12-month period.

From these findings, the state and federal departments will each decide whether the hitch should receive protection as an endangered species.

The five general factors that go into the decision are: population trends, current and historical abundance; habitat threat or loss; existing regulatory mechanisms, which are any laws already in place to protect the hitch; disease and predation and any other factors of interest such as climate change, Miller said.

Outcomes from the final statements may be that the hitch receive no protection, or that they are listed as either threatened or endangered, Miller said. Animals listed as endangered receive more protection than those classified as threatened.

While there is a possibility that listings by the state and federal departments do not coincide, Miller said it is unlikely; however, if it does happen, the federal ruling takes precedent over the state's.

One concern mentioned is that a threatened or endangered listing may disrupt other projects currently in place, such as the Middle Creek restoration project.

"How much damage will this do to other branches who try hard to be good to the ecosystem?" Street asked.

The bass fishing community is also worried that new regulations may cause depletion of bass in the lake. Since bass fishing tournaments bring in visitors from across the country, they fear that income from these events may also be negatively affected if the bass population significantly drops.

Other stakeholders mentioned were native tribes and the agricultural community.

At the end of the 90-minute meeting, plans for another meeting on Nov. 12 were made to gather more information to present at their next public meeting Dec. 3.

During this meeting, experts will be brought in to, "reduce the fear level and turn this into a positive," Peter Windrem, president of the Chi Council said.